Wolverine

wul-ver-en', literally a little wolf, the common glutton of Europe and northern North America. It is a large, strong animal belonging to the weasel family, but it walks on the soles of the feet instead of on its toes. It has rough, dark hair with pale stripes on the sides. It walks like a small bear, and looks like a large shaggy skunk. It inhabits forest regions. The pelt is valuable, especially for robes and rugs; but the animal's sagacity is such that it is difficult to trap. It follows the trapper's trail, springing traps and stealing the bait without being caught. It devours the choicest portions of animals in the traps and ruins their pelts. The wolverine and the fisher are the especial dread of the North American trapper. There is no satisfying a wolverine. It will break into a cabin and proceed deliberately to destroy and defile all that it cannot eat. It will scatter a package of rice, and strip bedding into shreds. A person seemingly could not show more destructive ingenuity. Cruisers, surveyors, and trappers frequently find it desirable to cache, that is, to bury, a part of their provisions against the return trip. No other animal has equal sagacity in finding a cache. Other animals satisfy their hunger and leave, but the wolverine takes a malicious pleasure in destroying everything in reach. The French call the wolverine the carcajou. In Wyoming it is called the skunk-bear. The Indians of Washington call it the mountain devil. Michigan has been nicknamed the Wolverine State.